On October 30, US President Donald Trump announced that he had agreed with General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping on cutting US tariffs, in return, China would take strong measures to suppress the smuggling of fentanyl (a powerful synthetic drug used for pain relief, but also causing death if overdose), resuming the purchase of US soybeans and keeping the flow of rare earth exports uninterrupted.
The live meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, for the first time since 2019, marked the most important event during the US President's trip to Asia. Speaking on Air Force One shortly after leaving Busan, Trump described it as a great meeting and rated it 12 on 10 points.
President Trump said the total tariffs on Chinese goods would be reduced from 57% to 47%. This reduction is mainly due to the reduction of half of the tariffs related to fentanyl, from 20% to 10%. Trump said China will "work hard to stop the flow" of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that causes the majority of deaths from drug shock in the US. Mr Trump said he would cut taxes "because I believe they are really taking strong action."
In addition, Mr. Trump also announced that China will continue to buy soybeans and other agricultural products from the US. Most importantly, after weeks of threats, China has agreed not to impose rare earth control measures.
Taking place on the sidelines of the APEC Summit, the nearly two-hour summit between the two leaders helped ease trade tensions. The situation has been very harsh in recent weeks, with both sides continuously threatening revenge.
Senior US-China negotiators have previously met in Malaysia and reached a "basic consensus" to prepare for the summit.
For his part, Chairman Xi Jinping also told Trump that it is normal for the two superpowers to occasionally conflict and that he is willing to work to " lay a solid foundation" for bilateral relations.
Despite reaching an agreement, the reaction of the financial market was quite gloomy. Chinese stocks and US soybean prices both fell slightly.
According to analysts, the reason is because the market had predicted this result. They even have higher expectations, such as the US completely abolishing fentanyl tax.
However, the most important thing is that the meeting stopped a full-scale trade war, helping to reassure the psychology of global businessists after a long period of instability.
